Duets of Mohd Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar

This article is by Mr. Robin Bhat

Attached a fascinating spreadsheet on the subject, with thanks to all the anthology experts (primarily Mr. Ghanam’s book) for their unasked-for permission to replicate.

Without bias against any other singer, the Mohammed Rafi-Lata Mangeshkar duet is my favourite of that form of song.

Kishore, Hemant, Talat, Manna, Mukesh, Udit all have their classics here but the depth of song, the length of experience, the breadth of voice and the sweep of hfm history comes together nowhere as best in a duet as that of one from Rafi and Lata.

There is much in this file to discuss. Five music directors numerically account for over half of their duets.

From a personal favorites side, I rank the best as those from SJ, then KA, then LP, taking also into account the amount of investment they made in Rafi-Lata.

Though they were all mostly terrific songs, SDB had only about a dozen, RDB less than 20.

Regards..Robin

Duets of Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar Total Duets 407 Total Mixed 37 Total all songs 444	Duets of Mohd Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar with other singers Top 5 MDs MD Song(s) %age LP 74 17% SJ 50 11% KA 38 9% Naushad 32 7% Chitragupta 31 7% Total 225 51%

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004 at 5:03 am and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “Duets of Mohd Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar”

1. 1
   Bonifacius Says:
   April 9th, 2006 at 7:40 pm

   Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.

2. 2
   Pratik Maitra Says:
   July 9th, 2006 at 11:53 am

   Correct me if I am wrong, but Saajan has another duet too. The song goes like “Resham Ki Dori . . . .”

3. 3
   shahnaz anjum Says:
   October 3rd, 2007 at 9:37 pm

   I like Rafi and Lata duet songs very much.I am listening their songs when I was 18 and today I m 45 years old.I’ve large collection of their lovely songs. I am fan of these two singers.No body can sing like them.God has given them so sweet and melodious voice.

4. 4
   A S MURTY Says:
   December 2nd, 2007 at 12:11 am

   Once again, I find that the website has more to offer than I had known earlier. this article and the pdf files are a gift to be stored. Mr pratik maitra is right when he says that “sajan” had the “resham ki dori” duet as well. the song “saajan, saajan pukarun” is a solo sung by rafi sahab and lata separately and not a duet.

5. 5
   nikki Says:
   August 21st, 2009 at 7:15 am

   Mohd Rafi was a gr8 singer…..

   infact he is a legend……

   no1 can sing lik him……..

   all f his songs r just aweeeeeeeeesome…….

6. 6
   suprajit Mridha Says:
   August 25th, 2009 at 10:06 am

   Md. Rafi & lata Mangshkar is gret singer

7. 7
   suprajit Mridha Says:
   August 25th, 2009 at 10:08 am

   Md.Rafi & Latamangshkar is gret singer.

8. 8
   Rajinder Says:
   July 25th, 2010 at 4:36 pm

   I have always wondered, how our lives would have been without Rafi, Lata, Kishore in that order. At the same time, many many thanks to all the music directors of the bygone era. Without their compositions, our lives would have been a misery.

9. 9
   Latha Says:
   August 10th, 2010 at 6:32 pm

   I want to know the starting line of the song, the duet of Lata nd Mohammad Rafi of 70′s song the stanza is ‘Peepal ki chanyyan hoi’.Please let me know.aThank you.

10. 10
    Latha Says:
    August 10th, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    I got it it’s resham ki dori song the film is Saajan.

11. 11
    bhawani Says:
    October 30th, 2010 at 4:00 am

    if God has a voice it cant be better than that of Rafi Saab’s. Comparing Rafi Saab with any other singer is just foolishness, coz God’s are not compared with human beings.

12. 12
    VKK Says:
    February 10th, 2011 at 12:35 am

    (Beautiful collection!)

    I have a query though:

    I am trying to recall a rafi and lata(?) duet but just can’t get the words right. I know the tune. Lyrics go something like (snippets):

    Kali se chahe pooche aaj ….. (Rafi)
    …

    O O OOO O .., pehli nazariya choope rahegi (Lata)

    …..

    Ye dil kyoon aata jaata hai (Rafi) …..

    (I could be off on lyrics here and there). Any leads anyone?

    Feel free to email me at vkalyan@yahoo.com

13. 13
    asrar Says:
    September 9th, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    hi , i am asrar, from delhi. main bhi raffi ke song ka dewana hun. aur isi lie gaata bhi hun. aur is lie main ek ladki dhund raha hun jo lata ke geet ka diwani ho. hum apna ek groupe banana chahte hain . agar koi ladki chahti hai to . plz contect apna de main call karunga. be honest.

14. 14
    asrar Says:
    September 15th, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    hi , i am asrar, from delhi. main bhi raffi ke song ka dewana hun. aur isi lie gaata bhi hun. aur is lie main ek ladki dhund raha hun jo lata ke geet ka diwani ho. hum apna ek groupe banana chahte hain . agar koi ladki chahti hai to . plz contect apna de main call karunga. be honest. asrar_now2002@yahoo.in

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